Lifelong for the murder of Heike Wunderlich

Around 30 years after the murder of Heike Wunderlich the perpetrator was sentenced to life imprisonment. He is said to have killed the 18-year-old to cover a sexual offense.

The Zwickau District Court also noted the particular gravity of the guilt so that the 62-year-old defendant can not expect early retirement after 15 years, according to a court spokesman.

Perpetrator was determined by DNA matching
The court saw it as proven that the defendant raped the woman in April 1987 in a forest near Plauen and subsequently strangled. The murder victim was on his way home with the moped when the crime of violence occurred. A day later her body was found.

The investigators came to the suspect by a DNA match. Improved methods of investigation could be used to analyze the traces back then to 2016. In a nationwide DNA match, the investigators then landed a hit. The suspect from Gera in Thuringia had already been registered in the investigation computer for other offenses. He was arrested in April last year.

The defendant was convicted of multiple violations
In his judgment, the regional court of Zwickau relied on further evidence. Thus the defendant lived near the crime scene. As a mushroom collector, the crime scene in the forest was also known to him. After the murder of Heike Wunderlich, the accused had committed further offenses and was repeatedly condemned for violent crimes.

In the opinion of the judges, the accused was therefore "not unwelcome". In his judgment, the court followed the demands of the prosecutor's office and the sub-court. The defense had demanded acquittal, because the proof of the perpetratorship had not been provided.

Punishment according to GDR law
The 62-year-old was sentenced to GDR criminal law, because the act was committed in GDR times. For murder, GDR law provided for a sentence of imprisonment of less than ten years or lifelong imprisonment. As a murder feature, the court has accepted a concealment intent. To cover the rape, the accused had killed the victim.

The Court of First Instance explained the particular gravity of the guilt by the fact that the defendant had raped the victim in a particularly brutal manner and killed him from selfish motives.